Catalogue > Un extrait vidéo au hasard

An epic journey with many angles and perspectives, George Maciunas (1931-1978) was the founder of Fluxus, a radical avant-garde art movement of the 20th century. The film starts in Lithuania before moving to New York, where émigré Maciunas, became an exceptional artist with roots in the Soviet avant-garde and Dada. The film uncovers his complex character and distinctive practice, expounding the rebellious creativity that imitated a whole international movement of artists, composers, designers and poets in the 1960s and 70s, and whose radical legacy powerfully endures. The film’s playful editing evokes a key tenet of Fluxus, where process is more meaningful than end product. From developing the first artist-owned lofts in SoHo, New York, to his attempt to realize a utopian society on a desolate island in the Caribbean, Maciunas was an uncompromising visionary with a rebellious sense of humor. What emerges in the film, is a kaleidoscopic, often contradictory but always revealing portrait of Maciunas' bold and tragic life. Archival and original interviews with major artists and commentators, including Mekas and Yoko Ono, create a scintillating portrait of underground New York; where radical art, gender diversity and encroaching gentrification existed in tandem.

Nicknamed 'the Fluxus cabdriver' by Nam June Paik, Jeffrey Perkins is an artist and filmmaker who has worked in relative obscurity for over five decades, having collaborated in the 1960s with Fluxus artists including George Maciunas, Yoko Ono, and Alison Knowles. Perkins co-founded the multi media group The Single Wing Turquoise Bird, which was the premier rock and roll concert light show in the sixties. Until recently he was best known for his light projection performances and his Movies for the Blind, based on sound recordings of interviews with passengers in his cab. He completed the feature documentary portrait of George - the story of George Maciunas and Fluxus in 2018 and his feature The Painter Sam Francis in 2008. Other films of his hand are Fluxus Film #22: Shout (1966), Stan Brakhage on Gregory Markopolous (1998) and Meet the Kuchar Brothers (1999). Jeff Perkins has been associated with Anthology Film Archives in New York since 1986, and has produced several programs and performances there since then.